‘Century Crunch’ project will shut down a major roadway into LAX for two days in July

Los Angeles, LAX and transportation officials gather near Century and Aviation Blvds. to announce demolition of old rail bridge to make way for modern light rail station. Traffic heads West toward LAX under bridge that will be demolished between July 25-28 2014. Photo by Robert Casillas / Daily Breeze

One of the two major roadways serving Los Angeles International Airport will be closed for more than two days in July to allow for the demolition of a defunct railroad bridge, making way for a new light rail line to the airport.

Century Boulevard will be closed for 57 consecutive hours at its intersection with Aviation Boulevard just east of LAX, Mayor Eric Garcetti and transit officials said Monday a press conference.

Keeping in line with other major transportation shutdowns in L.A., mostly along the 405 Freeway, the project already has a moniker, “Century Crunch,” and its own hashtag on social media, #centurycrunch.

About 90,000 vehicles pass under the current bridge that sits in the corridor between the 405 Freeway and the airport.

The weekend demolition project — which will begin at 9 p.m. Friday, July 25, and wrap up by 6 a.m. Monday, July 28 — will pave the way for the Crenshaw light rail line that will connect the Metro Green and Expo lines in 2019.

The former freight train bridge, which is too narrow to accommodate the two-way Crenshaw line, is located near the future site of the elevated Aviation/Century light rail station, where passengers will be able to transfer to airport terminals via a planned automated people mover, or tram.

“World-class cities have world-class airports ... but world-class cities also have world-class transit,” Garcetti told a battalion of TV news cameras. “We’re here today not just because of the coming down of a bridge, we are here because rail is coming to South Los Angeles.”

Garcetti praised the collaboration between the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority, the Los Angeles Department of Transportation and the Los Angeles World Airports, which runs LAX. The mayor was confident that traffic during the Century closure would “not become an emergency,” citing the dreaded “Carmageddon” debacle that the city was able to avoid when it closed down a section of the 405 Freeway in 2011 for the Sepulveda Pass Improvements Project.

Still, officials encouraged residents to avoid the area, if possible, during the road closure.

A detour will route traffic north of the bridge to Manchester Avenue before dropping back down to Century Boulevard on either side of Aviation Boulevard.

About a third of the cars that pass under the soon-to-be-demolished bridge are headed to and from LAX, said LAWA Executive Director Gina Marie Lindsey. For the 200,000 passengers that pass through LAX every day, Lindsey suggested they follow @flylaxairport on Twitter for real-time traffic updates. She also encouraged passengers to utilize LAWA’s FlyAway bus shuttle service, which is expanding to Santa Monica in July, Lindsey said.

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The Crenshaw/LAX light rail has sparked controversy because the $2 billion, 8.5-mile line will not actually reach LAX.

It will begin at the corner of Exposition and Crenshaw boulevards in the West Adams neighborhood of Los Angeles and proceed south along Crenshaw into Inglewood before kinking southwest across the 405 Freeway. The line will stop near LAX at the Aviation/Century station, almost two miles east of the Tom Bradley International Terminal at LAX.

LAWA plans to build a transportation hub between the planned Aviation/Century light rail station and the airport. The transport hub will have a car rental facility and connect passengers with the airport terminals via a tramway. LAWA is expected to finalize construction plans by the end of the year, officials said.